Didn't Want to Cause Panic? No, Trump Loves to Cause Panic

First, let the record show that on June 30, I warned that Trump was trying to kill us all.

Bob Woodward's upcoming book and the incriminating tapes that include 18 hours of conversations with Donald Trump proved my prophecy. Trump knew all along, since late January, that the novel coronavirus, in the words of his national security adviser, would be "the greatest national security threat of his administration."

Through his lies, obfuscations, indifference, inaction, denials, and, it bears repeating, lies, Trump misled us all, and as a result, nearly 200,000 people have tragically died thus far, our economy is in tatters, our school systems an absolute mess, tens of millions unemployed, and an ominous sense of doom, confusion, and unease permeates this country. And a festering divisiveness that rages like the wildfires on the West Coast. It's a harrowing time, made even more so by the president's abdication of duty to keep the country safe, opting instead for his penchant for fanning the flames of fear.

The Woodward tapes are Trump, in his own bloviating words, trying to impress the most preeminent and thorough journalist in our country. Should we be surprised that he thought it was OK to talk to Woodward 18 times? As a former press secretary, and knowing Woodward, I would have put the brakes on that instantly, considering Woodward's shrewdness and Trump's lewdness. Should we be surprised that no one said no to Trump, who thought he could schmooze and bend Woodward to his will? Former Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly said saying no to Trump was like "kissing a chain saw." Should we be surprised at Trump's stupidity for thinking he could fool and lie to the master reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner all in his own warped effort to look like a winner? Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson summed up best by saying Trump was a "a fucking moron.

His imbecilic nature was put on full display at the White House Wednesday when he replied to a question about why he made the comments about "downplaying" the virus and "always wanted to play it down." Trump said he didn't want to create a "panic."

Let that sink in for a second. Trump didn't want to create a panic.

In 2016, he based his run for office on instilling fear into his emerging and mindless base that Mexico was going to take over the United States and a wall had to be built to protect the country from murderers, rapists, and thugs overrunning our borders. If we didn't elect him, if we didn't build that wall, if we didn't stop asylum seekers, people fleeing from oppression and mothers and fathers who risked everything to bring their children across the border, we were going to be ruined. Those people from "shithole" countries were coming into our cities and towns to take our jobs, rape our daughters, and kill our neighbors. Are you incredibly afraid? Are you scared out of your wits? Vote for Trump.

And they did. One of the very first things he did when he entered office was create a panic about transgender people in the military and elsewhere. Transgender folks were going to create havoc in the armed services, ostensibly because they were deviants who trolled the wrong restrooms. And those restrooms in danger weren't limited to the bases. According to Trump's hyperbole, everyone should essentially be on the lookout for "cross-dressers" and "transvestites" who creep around our public bathrooms. Our daughters would share a toilet with adult men dressed like our moms. An unadulterated attempt to put terror into the minds of transphobic and homophobic people in the general public.

And to service members who would be side by side with deviants in the foxholes, showers and bunks. They should be terrified of stranger soldiers lurking among their ranks, right? And be ever fearful of being emasculated by he's that are she's and she's that are he's? Trust in Trump to isolate the trans people.

When trusting in Trump seemed precarious before the 2018 midterm election, it was time for another fabricated unnerve. Caravans, massive caravans of delinquents, dirty filthy migrants, weaponized warriors heading for conflict -- they were en route to the United States and an existential threat to our democracy, our way of life, and our very lives. Troops were sent because the caravan was going to overwhelm the border guards, crawl over and through Trump's beautiful wall, and stab and shoot anyone who got in their way. They were going to unlock cages at detention centers and free the wild children who slept on top of each other, away from their parents. Shouldn't we be extremely alarmed and petrified about that caravan? Unable to protect ourselves from a devastating force of doom? Vote Republican and they'll push that caravan back to the shitholes where they came from.

But people didn't for Republicans. They weren't adequately afraid. So that means that they didn't vote right, right? They voted for the wrong party? No, the voting system is a mess. It's a disgrace. It's dishonest. It's frightening! It will not count your vote. Your vote will get lost in the mail. Post offices can't process your vote. They will be overwhelmed. We need to dismantle the post offices by removing vital machines that make them grossly inept. If we vote by mail, we're fools, so we should go to our polling place on Election Day and watch them as they let us vote twice. Yes, vote twice. It's against the law, but do it anyway. It will safeguard us. Election officials are lazy, incompetent. Our vote for Trump in this warped democracy is vulnerable. Our voices are under a severe threat. Don't trust voting? Vote Trump, the vanguard of fairness and equality.

That definition of equality that only makes white people equal to other white people is slipping away. Since the video emerged of George Floyd's killing by white police officers that infuriated Black Lives Matter, and white do-gooders and bleeding-heart liberals, our white privilege is coming under attack. But Black lives don't matter; if they do, then we're drinking the Kool-Aid -- that's what Trump told Woodward. Only white lives matter, only blue lives matter, but Black lives? Black lives are ominous. They are looters. They want to rename our communities, schools, statues, and military bases. Confederates were yesterday's patriots. Today, we have a new breed of patriots who stand guard outside their upscale homes with pistols and rifles leering and jeering at dangerous protesters who march peacefully. Black lives are ruinous. They will demolish your cities, your towns, your suburbs.

Oh, and those quaint suburbs with white housewives and white picket fences and white aluminum siding will all be darkened soon. Antifa, the liberal army, the radical left is coming, in caravans again, to ransack, infiltrate, and loot our neighborhoods. "When the looting starts, the shooting starts." Liberal mayors and city councils, Democratic governors who push sanctuary cities on us are a menace, "the likes of which you've never seen" -- Trump's favorite threat. It will soon be all-out anarchy if Trump isn't reelected. Our suburbs will be kaput. No more. Black people living next to us, just like when the Jeffersons debunked the Bunkers' all-white neighborhood. No more tranquility. There will be trash, broken windows, street barbecues -- it will be despicable. Only Trump's national army and a second term can come in to save us.

Panic is Trump's modus operandi. It is the very definition and description of his Twitter feed. His mere presence creates panic for those of us who are scared to death of him. And we should be fearful of him and for our lives, because the one time we needed to panic or at least told by Trump to be fearful was when COVID-19 started its ugly spread.

We needed to know the truth. We needed to know that the government would protect us. That we could rely on our leaders to tell us what to do,and how to do it. That science and medicine would prevail. We needed to be panic-stricken, coalescing as if our lives depended on it, because our families, our jobs, our way of life, and our lives did depend on it and were at risk. We needed to be terrorized and jolted into action.

But that didn't happen, because our president, well, he doesn't like to panic anyone, particularly when he's trying to kill us all.

John Casey is a PR professional and an adjunct professor at Wagner College in New York City, and a frequent columnist forThe Advocate. Follow John on Twitter @johntcaseyjr.